I totally HATE this! IMO, BOTH the owners AND players are being VERY STUBBORN! Neither side wants to make the first move, and ultimately by being like this, their slowly ruining the nhl, and don't seem to give a crap, either..........

I would think Mario would be the logical choice here. Players and owners would listen to him. He is probably the only person that would not BS either side.

Mario is one of the primary examples of why we're in this fix in the first place. It was his ourtrageous salary demands that bankrupted the Penguins until they landed in his lap! Then the league, being corrupt at the top, allowed him to be a player/owner. Imagine an owner of a team, playing, a referee puts his whistle away when Mario's team is playing because if he pisses off the owner he can lose his job. It's pathetic to even consider Mario anything but a pariah in this entire mess.

Seriously, this lockout is just starting to take its toll on me, if you think about it, we'd be hyping up another NHL season right about now, and going through exhibition games. Instead we're stuck in a lockout situation in which the 2 most EGOTISTICAL morons are the ones responsible for negotiations.

They are so egotistical that they will in fact, play the blame game like little children where they don't regress at all, or look themselves in the mirror, instead they blame the other side continously. This is a pathetic display of business relations, when the product(the NHL and its players) refuse to respect, and acknowledge their customers(the fans) as actual human beings, instead we're just walking wallets ready to fill both of their bank accounts.

It's ridiculous.

I think you're right. I can't see either side 'caving in' because of their egos-until they feel pressure from their peers...but that's where it gets interesting. BOTH sides have said they've planned a long time for this and have built up 'warchests'. BOTH sides have said they can afford to miss a entire season. If this is the case then where's the 'lets get back to the table' pressure going to come from? Nowhere-UNLESS one side or the other CANT afford to lose a full season and was just jousting. If so-Which one would it be?? The owners or players?